Diary of a 60's Cover Band (Blog)

We have now added an incredible new song to our repertoire from one of the most influential US psychedelic bands of the 60's, Vanilla Fudge. It's their 1967 upside down version of the hit by the Supremes "You Keep Me Hanging On". Check it out!

Last year we added the astonishing song "Something in the Air", recorded in 1969 by the one hit wonder band Thunderclap Newman. They were put together by Pete Townsend around a drug addled drummer (Speedy Keene) and an eccentric jazz pianist (Thunderclap Newman). The song has a killer middle instrumental section.

Our most requested song is "Everlovin' Man" by The Loved Ones. We added this song in 2006 in honour of the late great Gerry Humphries. Dennis does the most astonishing version you've heard bar the original. See him in action here. 

Remember the 60's?

The 60's were an exciting, revolutionary, turbulent time of great social and technological change: assassination, unforgettable fashion, new musical styles, Camelot, civil rights, women's liberation, a controversial and divisive war in Vietnam, the first manned landing on the moon, peace marches, World's Fairs, flower power, great TV and film and sexual freedom.

Please note:
The Substitutes are based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

N.B. The careers of all the members of the 'The Substitutes' are documented in the Fifth Edition of 'Who's Who of Australian Rock' published in 2002 by The Five Mile Press.

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Dennis Millar 

  Vocals and guitar

Dennis is a fantastic singer who can hit the high notes of 'Tin Soldier' as easily as he can growl like Eric Burdon. This versatility enables him to do perfect justice to many 60's songs that others cannot touch without a key change.

His playing career commenced in the late 60's in a succession of local bands before he become professional and joined the legendary Buster Brown in 1975. Buster Brown featured Angry Anderson (Rose Tattoo) and Phil Rudd (AC/DC) but the band broke up a year later.

Dennis next joined up with a group of top professional musicians including Trevor Young (Coloured Balls and Black Feather) and lan "Bobsy" Millar (Coloured Balls) to form Haphazard Jack who played and toured nationally for a few years. Then came One Night Stand, a solo band project for drummer Ray Arnott (ex Spectrum) with Dennis holding down the guitar seat.

It was in this latter band that Dennis first met highly regarded blues guitarist Nick Charles. Nick and Dennis went on to play on and off together for the next 11 years in such bands as the heavy rock Full Boar (with Kerry McKenna from Madder Lake and Trevor Young and Bobsy Millar), as an acoustic duo and, in the late 1980's, in the Room Service Blues Band with Les Gough (bass) from Somebody's Image and Peter Reed (drums).

In between all of the above Dennis found time to play with the highly regarded country rock band The Lamington Brothers led by Bill Jackson.

So Dennis has done it all and now has genuine enthusiasm for recreating the hits of his youth. He plays guitar with fire and passion and his soaring vocals have provided The Substitutes with many more 60's song options.

Pete Robinson 

  bass and vocals

Pete was a founder member of one of Melbourne's first 60's pop bands, "The Strangers". This band appeared regularly on TV, had a succession of national hits ("Lady Scorpio", "Happy Without You" , "Melanie Make Me Smile, "Put Yourself in My Place" ,"Western Union") and included John Farrar who went on to become a successful songwriter in the US.

Pete's subsequent musical career has included such roles as television musical director/arranger/record producer for the likes of John Farnham, Johnny Young, Russell Morris, Ted Mulry, The Masters Apprentices and The Town Criers. He has continued to play with professional bands (including a long stint with the Seekers and a short but intense spell with punk rock band BlackSmith Hopkins) and is a highly respected musician.

As a result Pete is very well known within Melbourne musical circles and has played all sorts of music but "The Substitutes" has rekindled his love of the British Invasion music of the 60's because they aim to play with true period authenticity.

Peter Reed 

  drums

Peter Reed is a veteran of Melbourne's rock scene who began his career as the drummer in 60's band The Dream who later became the New Dream and had a national #1 hit with "Groupie" in 1969 and a top ten hit with "Soft Delights" . Since then he has played and recorded with numerous bands such as Gary Young's Hot Dog (at Sunbury '75), Pantha, the Mark Gillespie Band, The Tremors (with Kerryn Tolhurst from the Dingoes), Lyn Randall Band, the Phil Manning Band, the Jane Clifton Band. Peter met Dennis during their long stint together in the Room Service Blues Band. He is a fantastic and authentic rock drummer.

"For about 12 months I studied with Peter Reed. Peter was the drummer in a band called "The New Dream" and was a mate of mine, so I asked him to teach me. I practised 4 to 5 hours a day. I don't think I've ever done anything in my life that required so much concentration." Gary Young of iconic Aussie band Daddy Cool from an interview in DRUM Scene magazine Issue 47 Dec/Jan/Feb 2006-2007.

Peter Summers 

  guitar, keyboard and vocals

Peter has been obsessed with music in all forms his entire life and played in many different sorts of bands, recreating the 30's music of Eddie Lang & Joe Venuti with Brendan Shearson, stretching the limits of country rock with the loving remembered Riverina Playboys (led by 'magic realist' artist Graeme Drendel) before forming his own band, Strange Idols, with Brian Gamble in 1979. Check out the video of their Countdown performance here .

Recruiting singer/actor Robert Price (always the bad guy in such programs as Police Rescue and Blue Heelers) as the singer, Strange Idols were part of the early 80's New Wave and played extensively for 4 years (with Split Enz, Midnight Oil, Eric Burdon, Australian Crawl, The Angels and Cold Chisel amongst others), and recorded a single and an album before Peter disbanded the group in 1983 due to family and business commitments. 

Though influenced by everyone from the Hot Club de France through the Sex Pistols to Matthew Herbert, for years Peter toyed with the idea of forming a band to play solely Sixties songs with an emphasis on the music of Ray Davies, Pete Townsend, et al because there are many classics that are not often performed.

After being forced to attend yet another corporate event with a B-grade covers band (the one with the two singers and a laptop computer doing Abba songs), he decided that, enough was enough, and he would form The Substitutes with some likeminded musicians.

MELBOURNE, Australia [The Substitutes Manifesto]  Copyright   2008.